An Applebee’s franchisee is injecting new capital and growth into the fast-casual restaurant chain’s Memphis operations.

Apple Investor Group LLC, led by managing member Andy Patel, is upgrading 17 Applebee’s units in the Mid-South and plans an additional 10 stores in the next two years.

The franchise group purchased the 70-county market, which includes five Memphis-area stores, from Applebee’s parent company DineEquity Inc. (NYSE: DIN) for $23 million earlier this year.

DineEquity bought the Applebee’s chain in November 2007 and set a goal for the fast-casual chain to be 99 percent franchised. An Applebee’s store on Winchester Road closed several years ago, but DineEquity hasn’t been targeting new stores in Memphis. Its focus is franchisees.

“This market was not developed for the past five years,” Patel says.

That’s changing with Patel’s group.

Laura Trezevant, president of Trezevant Commercial Brokerage Inc., has been representing Patel’s group in its market search.

“His team is very aggressive and very efficient,” she says.

The group is opening Applebee’s in Millington in August and in Covington in December. Patel is working to open two more locations by September in Cordova and the Summer/Interstate 40 areas.

Apple Investor Group is also looking at the Hacks Cross/Winchester area, Collierville and East Memphis for possible landing sites.

“He’s aggressively looking at our market and considering any and all options, including shopping center purchases, existing restaurant purchases or build-to-suit,” Trezevant says.

An Applebee’s store can go into an end cap or a free-standing building. Apple Investor Group is looking for spaces ranging from 4,200 to 8,000 square feet.

Apple Investor Group is also remodeling its local stores before the end of August. The company has stores on Union Avenue and in West Memphis, Bartlett, Horn Lake and Olive Branch.

Patel’s group started buying Applebee’s franchises in February 2009 and now has 44 stores in Tennessee, Mississippi, Virginia, Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky. Each restaurant employs about 50 people.

Patel has also signed a contract to put Apple Investor Group’s corporate headquarters in Southaven, buying a building at 1315 Goodman Road. The building will be used for central office function and training. He picked it because it’s centrally located and close to Memphis International Airport.

Overall, the group has spent $55 million acquiring all of its Applebee’s locations. Several banks, mainly Regions Bank and Cadence Bank N.A., have provided financing for the acquisitions and property improvements.

Patel is also managing member of Anand Enterprise Inc., a franchise group that owns 17 IHOP stores.

Patel is planning to use a new system of interactive computer screens at the Bartlett location. These screens allow customers to order, pay the bill or play games. Several Applebee’s stores have been testing out the Presto model from E la Carte Inc.